1891.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 219 



trouble the patient the rest of his life. One attack of the disease does 

 not render the victim proof against further invasions, and successive at- 

 tacks ma}^ prove fatal when the first is outlived. 



Treatment is not very satisfactory to either physician or patient. 

 If the case is diagnosed in time active cathartics and emetics will re- 

 move the young from the intestinal canal and lessen the dangers. Car- 

 bolic acid, benzine, and other volatile liquids have been proposed and 

 used, but w^ithout beneficial eftect. Picric acid has been given until 

 the patient v^^as colored yellow, but the trichinse did not mind it. This 

 is certainly a case where an ounce of preventative is worth a pound of 

 cure, and the best treatment is to make a microscopical examination of 

 the meat before eating it or else cook it thoi'oughly. 



Examination of Meat. — The examination of flesh for trichiuce is 

 by no means difficult. The trained eye can distinguish the cysts with- 

 out the aid of a microscope. A lense with a power of ten diameters 

 will show them plainly. When the trichina are free it requires a 

 power of about forty diameters to make them out w^ell. To study the 

 animal necessitates much higher powers. A few fibres of the flesh can 

 be picked out and squeezed between two glass slips and then examined 

 in this condition. A few drops of glycerin will facilitate the work. I 

 have never found it necessary to stain the specimen or treat it with 

 ether to extract the fats as some recommend. I make it a rule to keep 

 specimens in glycerin and see that the use of alcohol is avoided. 



The diaphragm is as likely to be infected as any portion of the ani- 

 mal and is a convenient muscle to examine. 



The statement has been made that one out of every seven human 

 beings is affected with trichinosis. At one time I examined twenty 

 cadavers from a dissecting-room and found trichinae in but one subject. 



The above facts have been brought together on this occasion for the 

 pui^pose of stimulating the pharmacists to prepare for the examination 

 of pork. 



The illustrations are from specimens prepared by Dr. Eugene A. 

 Rau, of Bethlehem, Pa. 



REMARKS. 



Mr. Willett asked : " What food will produce trichinge in rats.?" 



Dr. Whelpley explained that trichinae are transferred from one ani- 

 mal to another by cats devouring mice and rats, or vice vet'sa, mice and 

 rats devouring cats or hogs. 



Mr. Spilker asked in what section of St. Louis the rats on which 

 the doctor reported in his paper had been obtained. 



The reply was, a 25 lot was obtained in the northern section and an 

 8 lot was obtained in the neighborhood of Morgan street. 



Mr. Giesick inquired how it happened that in a family sick from 

 trichinae, two or three would die and the balance get well. 



Dr. Whelpley replied for the same reason that two or thr«e children 

 in a family sometimes die from whooping-cough and the balance get 

 well. 



Carney's Modification of Lang's Formula. — Water, 100 parts; 

 acetic acid, 5 parts ; bichloride of mercury, 5 parts. — JLa Biologic 

 Cellulaire. 



